Chapter 4638: Desperate Escape (17)

"What's wrong?" Lucifer asked, looking at Anatoly's somewhat unhappy expression. "Who pried this wall brick off?"

"Schiller," Anatoly said in a deep voice. "There's no one else but him. Only his type of ability could possibly be unrestricted in this kind of instance dungeon."

"Oh, you mean he..." Lucifer obviously also knew about the fact that "the worse Schiller's state is, the better his state is."

Afterward, he also gasped, because he realized that with the sturdiness of the floor tiles here, the strength required to pry them open directly was astonishingly great. This proved that Schiller's state might be very bad.

He flapped his wings anxiously and then said: "Schiller actually ended up in the same group as us. Wait a minute, he wouldn't have entered the game with Bruce, would he?"

Anatoly turned his head to look at him: "How do you know?"

Lucifer was speechless for a moment: "Good question, but if I were to explain this clearly to you, we would definitely be last."

"Make it short," Anatoly said.

"Alright, then I won't talk about the past. Anyway, you just need to know that as long as the two of them are together, this kind of thing will happen."

"'This kind of thing' refers to?"

"It's just stabbing each other once, or stabbing themselves once, or stabbing the other person first and then stabbing themselves..." Lucifer gestured.

"Don't look at me; I don't know why either," Lucifer flapped his wings again, his mental anxiety making him forget the pain for a moment. "For these past few years, I have been working with the Justice League to separate them, let them be busy with their own things, and it's best if they don't meet. Otherwise, this situation will occur."

"I thought Schiller had gotten much better," Anatoly said.

"Then you are too optimistic," Lucifer shook his head vigorously. "I don't deny that Schiller is much more normal. Actually, after Bruce stopped being Batman, he was also like a normal person. But when the two of them meet, the abnormal part of their personalities will erupt. And then the subsequent scene is blood, blood, and more blood."

"It seems you are deeply impressed by this," Anatoly lowered his eyes. "After the game ends, you have to tell me about it properly."

Hearing that his tone wasn't quite right, Lucifer swallowed and said: "Actually, I think he didn't... um..."

Lucifer gestured for a long time but couldn't find a better excuse, so he could only try to play the emotional card: "He should be doing this to help you. Although I don't know why he wants to pry the floor tiles, this should be useful, right?"

Anatoly nodded. He didn't have much expression, so his emotions couldn't be seen, but Lucifer was afraid of this.

Anatoly began to analyze: "Of course it's useful. We can use this to destroy this device."

"How to destroy it?"

"I guess he got inspiration from the scale," Anatoly looked at the device and said. "Lever principle. Since the device is electrified as a whole and cannot be touched, it is very difficult to push it over. Even with such strength, it is impossible to get close. The best way to knock the device over without touching it is to use the lever principle to pry it."

Anatoly had already pried off a few bricks. Among them, the bottom of the brick closest to the seam had been dug open quite a bit, and the edge of the bottom of the machine was faintly visible.

Lucifer leaned over to take a look and was shocked: "It's actually buried so deep."

"No, it's still buried too shallow," Anatoly said. "The level designer probably didn't expect someone to be able to destroy the floor tiles, so it wasn't buried too deep."

"Yeah, theoretically speaking, these floor tiles shouldn't be destroyable either," Lucifer shook his head and said. "But I feel that even without Schiller, you would find a way to destroy it, right?"

Anatoly nodded and said: "It's not that there's no room for operation. The surroundings of the hole we just climbed up from also have floor tiles, and the seams there are easier to pry."

"You intend to pry all the way over?!"

"It's not impossible. You know, I'm very professional in this regard, and it won't take long."

"The level designer is really blessed to have run into the two of you," Lucifer shook his head. "It's all because the Battle World is too realistic, with physical rules almost identical to the outside world. If it were really like in the game, with invisible walls everywhere, let's see how you would use violence."

"If that were the case, most people wouldn't be willing to play," Anatoly said. "If you can't hone your abilities in a world that is almost completely realistic, then what is the significance of the Battle World's existence?"

"That's true," Lucifer said. "If it weren't realistic enough, Batman wouldn't waste time playing. It's precisely because it's almost exactly the same as the real world outside, but you won't really get hurt or die, that Batman is willing to treat this as a training ground."

"Alright, let's see if we can shake this mechanism," Anatoly looked up at the other side of the scale. "If it were a very complex and unscientific device, there would be no need to cover it up at all. Since it's covered up, it shows that there shouldn't be any supernatural power; if it weren't covered, it would be seen through at a glance."

Lucifer nodded and said: "Indeed, wrapping the scale on that side makes me feel a bit guilty. It's probably worried about running into mechanical engineering geniuses like Iron Man or Batman, who would directly guess what the next level will be like."

"This proves that there is definitely nothing good in the next level," Anatoly sneered. "We have to hurry."

"Batman, are you okay?" Superman couldn't help but look back. He saw the fingers Batman was resting on the wall turning an abnormal white.

Superman walked over, held Batman's hand, and then said: "If you are cold, you'd better lean on me."

"No, if we encounter any sudden situation, you need to react as quickly as possible. If I lean my center of gravity on you, it might delay your actions." Batman didn't show weakness and looked no different from usual, but his lips, which were paler than usual, already explained everything.

Superman reached out to him. Batman subconsciously dodged, but obviously, excessive blood loss made him not as agile as before, so he didn't dodge it. And Superman just touched his neck.

"My god, you are as cold as a block of ice," Superman grabbed his hair hard. "We can't go on like this, Batman, we can't continue. I want to quit. I really want to quit."

"Clark, I have experienced many situations worse than this. If I gave up lightly, I would have died long ago. What I want to say is that this is also a type of tempering for me. I came to participate in the game for this, didn't I?"

"God! Isn't reality's torture of you enough?" Superman looked completely collapsed. "Why can't I be you, or why can't you be me? Sorry, I might be a bit mentally unstable, just babbling..."

Batman held Superman's hand back: "You think it's a good thing for me to be you, which proves that you are very satisfied with your life. This is one of the reasons I work hard, isn't it?"

Superman had nothing to say, just trying hard to suppress something. He ignored Batman's opposition, supported him, and walked forward until they arrived at the next room.

The entire room had only one platform and one door, but the entire ceiling was full of cold, sharp steel needles.

There was no doubt that if these ceilings and steel needles fell together, everyone in the room would be pierced. However, there was a pillar in the center of the platform that supported the ceiling, keeping these steel needles from falling for the time being.

The platform was about a meter high, but it wasn't welded to the ground; the pillar supporting the platform came up from the floor, and it seemed there was something supporting the pillar below.

Superman looked very puzzled and didn't understand what this was for at all. Batman, however, seemed to have thought of something; he looked up at the steel needles and then said: "This thing is descending."

"What?!" Superman didn't see it at all.

"The speed is very slow, but it is indeed constantly descending," Batman said. "We need to support it under the platform; otherwise, if this thing falls, we will be pierced."

Superman opened his mouth; he still didn't quite understand how to clear the level. Batman looked up at the top: "The exit is above."

Then he ignored Superman's confusion and began to grope on the wall. Sure enough, there was a lever on the wall, but human strength couldn't pull it at all; it seemed to be waiting for something to fall and smash it down.

Batman looked at the position of the lever and then said: "Sure enough, just as I speculated, after this thing is smashed down by the ceiling, the passage will appear."

Batman knocked on the wall again and said: "There is space behind this, leaving a place to stay. When the time comes, we can hide inside, then step onto the ceiling and leave from the exit."

Superman was completely confused; he couldn't keep up with Batman's thinking at all, nor could he imagine how to solve this puzzle.

Batman gasped slightly and began to explain in more detail: "If I'm not mistaken, there will be a switch or something under the platform. Once it's pulled down, the ceiling will fall directly."

"Hiss... wouldn't that smash people to death?"

"No, we can hide under the platform," Batman pointed to the platform. "That platform is actually not small; it can almost hide two adults, and the countertop is metal, so it won't be pierced by the steel needles."

"Oh, and then? Just hide under there the whole time?"

"After the switch under the platform is opened, the platform should have no supporting effect," Batman continued to observe the structure and said. "The weight of the ceiling falling on the platform needs the two of us to hold it up."

"Then just hold it up."

"That will be very heavy, Clark. We can't hold on for long."

"Then isn't this completely a dead end?" Superman asked. "You said the weight needs to be held up by ourselves; if we let go, it will fall directly, so it's impossible for two people to step on the ceiling together. There must be one person supporting it from below, then isn't this person doomed?"

"This is the significance of the mechanism in the previous level," Batman said. "If one end of the scale is heavy enough, it can lift the other end, which should help us support the ceiling. This is the only way for two people to leave."

"Then we'll just wait here," Superman said. "Didn't you say that plan could succeed before? We'll just wait here until the scale supports the ceiling." As Superman spoke, he realized it himself—the ceiling was also descending now, which proved that they couldn't wait indefinitely. Either both of them hold up the ceiling together, or one person holds it while the other runs.

"The problem is, can the plan really succeed?" Batman asked. "This is a double-layer game; the core logic lies in whether you have made contributions yourself and whether you believe others will make contributions."

Superman rubbed his forehead and said: "Is there really still time to explain the specific principles? Batman, you are the one who made the contribution, so I trust your judgment."

"I am usually a pessimist," Batman said. "Even if we have already made enough contributions, I cannot say that the plan will definitely succeed. So the best choice now is..."

Batman just instinctively looked up, but saw Superman staring straight at his blue eyes. Batman had never seen so many negative emotions in these clear eyes—anger, sadness, and even resentment.

He suddenly thought of what Superman had told him: Up to now, Superman had been able to understand him every time, but there would always be one time he wouldn't. This depended on how many more times he would abandon Superman.

It was like constantly adding weights to the scale, making Superman's heart heavier and heavier, until one day it sank completely to the bottom. Batman realized that every weight was precious and had to be used in the right place.

"I think we can try," he said. "Although my luck is bad, perhaps your luck is good." ===== CHAPTER 4639 =====

It was as if weights were being constantly added to a scale, making Superman's heart heavier and heavier until one day it sank completely to the bottom. Batman realized that every weight was precious and had to be used in the right place.

"I think we can try," he said. "Although my luck is bad, perhaps yours is good."